2008 Woodie Awards
Church's Influence on Sports [NCAA Tourney Edition]
Bracket Times
David Church
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Sports
It is time to fill out the brackets and with teams like St. Mary's, South Alabama, Baylor and Oregon were able to march on. Creating some great upset scenarios come tournament time.
For instance, in the East region, although they aren't the same George Mason team of 2006, George Mason will look to beat up on Notre Dame. A couple other games that will pay off big if you play bonuses for the upsets in the first round are St. Josephs over Oklahoma and South Alabama over Butler. But North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisville, and Washington St. will all walk into the Sweet 16 with an eventual match up of North Carolina and Tennessee.
In the Midwest region, the only upsets I see is if Davidson plays over there heads and finds a way to play with Gonzaga. Well Clemson has shown that they are ready play after beating Duke in a close one and then falling to North Carolina in the ACC finals. Clemson could give a struggling Vanderbilt a good game. But I feel that Wisconsin will take out Georgetown with solid three-point shooting while Kansas takes care of Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
The south region is up for grabs. Memphis will have a tough road in facing Oregon in the second round, Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 and then the winner of the Stanford-Texas match-up in the Finals of the south. Upsets to look for are Temple over Michigan St., Kentucky over Marquette and St. Mary's over Miami (FL). Again, the top four seeds shouldn't have a problem reaching the sweet 16; it is just picking the right team to win that could become the problem.
Finally, there is the West region which gives UCLA an easy journey to the West finals against Duke. The only things to look for is whether or not teams like Drake and Xavier are for real or are they over ranked. I have the No. 11 Baylor upsetting No. 6 Purdue then beating Xavier in the second round to face Duke in the Sweet 16. While Connecticut takes care of San Diego and then Western Kentucky.
So my sweet 16 consist of North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisville, and Washington St. out of the East. It will be Kansas, Georgetown, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt in the Midwest. It will be Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Pittsburgh in the South region. Lastly the West region will consist of UCLA, Duke, Baylor and Connecticut.
So from the Sweet 16 you will have North Carolina beat Washington St. Then Tennessee takes care of Louisville to face off in the North region finals. You'll see Vanderbilt get hot from the outside and beat Kansas while Wisconsin does the same and takes care of Georgetown.
On the other side of the bracket we will watch Pittsburgh play a physical game with Memphis and take it in the final seconds while Texas finds a way to control the Lopez twins and sneak by Stanford. The West region will see UCLA pounce on Connecticut and then Duke walking over Baylor.
Then in the elite eight, Tennessee will find a way to control the overrated Tyler Hansbrough to advance to face Wisconsin who will continue to find ways to control the tempo of the game. While Texas will take care of business in the South region and UCLA will find a way to reach the Final Four for the third year in a row.
The Championship game will then be a match up between UCLA and Tennessee, which was is what I believed from preseason. UCLA will control the game and beat Tennessee 71-65 and finally give coach, Ben Holland, what he and his players have been working so hard for.
Any comments or questions can be sent to churc009@csusm.edu or pride@csusm.edu.
For instance, in the East region, although they aren't the same George Mason team of 2006, George Mason will look to beat up on Notre Dame. A couple other games that will pay off big if you play bonuses for the upsets in the first round are St. Josephs over Oklahoma and South Alabama over Butler. But North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisville, and Washington St. will all walk into the Sweet 16 with an eventual match up of North Carolina and Tennessee.
In the Midwest region, the only upsets I see is if Davidson plays over there heads and finds a way to play with Gonzaga. Well Clemson has shown that they are ready play after beating Duke in a close one and then falling to North Carolina in the ACC finals. Clemson could give a struggling Vanderbilt a good game. But I feel that Wisconsin will take out Georgetown with solid three-point shooting while Kansas takes care of Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
The south region is up for grabs. Memphis will have a tough road in facing Oregon in the second round, Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 and then the winner of the Stanford-Texas match-up in the Finals of the south. Upsets to look for are Temple over Michigan St., Kentucky over Marquette and St. Mary's over Miami (FL). Again, the top four seeds shouldn't have a problem reaching the sweet 16; it is just picking the right team to win that could become the problem.
Finally, there is the West region which gives UCLA an easy journey to the West finals against Duke. The only things to look for is whether or not teams like Drake and Xavier are for real or are they over ranked. I have the No. 11 Baylor upsetting No. 6 Purdue then beating Xavier in the second round to face Duke in the Sweet 16. While Connecticut takes care of San Diego and then Western Kentucky.
So my sweet 16 consist of North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisville, and Washington St. out of the East. It will be Kansas, Georgetown, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt in the Midwest. It will be Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Pittsburgh in the South region. Lastly the West region will consist of UCLA, Duke, Baylor and Connecticut.
So from the Sweet 16 you will have North Carolina beat Washington St. Then Tennessee takes care of Louisville to face off in the North region finals. You'll see Vanderbilt get hot from the outside and beat Kansas while Wisconsin does the same and takes care of Georgetown.
On the other side of the bracket we will watch Pittsburgh play a physical game with Memphis and take it in the final seconds while Texas finds a way to control the Lopez twins and sneak by Stanford. The West region will see UCLA pounce on Connecticut and then Duke walking over Baylor.
Then in the elite eight, Tennessee will find a way to control the overrated Tyler Hansbrough to advance to face Wisconsin who will continue to find ways to control the tempo of the game. While Texas will take care of business in the South region and UCLA will find a way to reach the Final Four for the third year in a row.
The Championship game will then be a match up between UCLA and Tennessee, which was is what I believed from preseason. UCLA will control the game and beat Tennessee 71-65 and finally give coach, Ben Holland, what he and his players have been working so hard for.
Any comments or questions can be sent to churc009@csusm.edu or pride@csusm.edu.
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